Christmas

Whew! Finally, I got this Christmas post together. For the short version, just look at the pictures! We had a great time with our families in Arizona. Tons of fun for everyone! The painfully long version follows laterÜ.
P.S. Deacon doesn't realize that he didn't get any presents from us or Santa Claus----so nobody ruin it!






















-We weren't looking forward to driving 12 hours to Arizona with a 21 m/o little boy. I was trying to convince Nathan to buy a portable DVD player but he is very protective of Deacon's mind "rotting away"--haha. Luckily, we were talking to our Bishop and he mentioned how glad he was to have one for the kiddos and I told Nathan we really should follow his divinely inspired counsel Ü. Nate found an awesome deal on one so we bought it. What a difference it made! But the biggest difference was being able to split up our trip and stay Saturday night with Ashley and Matt in Vegas. Great Hosts!

-On Sunday we made a stop to eat at Metcalfe Park in Kingman. Nathan indulged me by pretending to be interested in every little memory I could think of. Deacon loved the playground. Later that afternoon we arrived at my parents house and stayed the first part of the week there.

-On Monday I got to visit my sister Brenna and see her new house for the first time. I paid homage to The Twilight tree Ü. I visited with my sister Paige who was home from UofA for Christmas Break. Nathan also spent the entire day changing the struts on my car. That man amazes me! He knew nothing about it, but got on the Internet to do some research. Then he spoke with my dad and his dad, and made some calls our brother-in-law Jim, and he decided to give it a try. He ordered the parts and we brought them with us to AZ (where it is a LOT warmer to work on your car outside). He scared me at first because he said changing them can be dangerous. If you don't replace them the right way, they are made of tight springs than can shoot through the car take your head off while driving (yes, I was ready to go to a mechanic right then). Then he found some online that are pre-packed (or something?) and not dangerous. I think he calculated a savings of about $500 over having someone else do it. I was only *slightly* scared to drive around after the job was done. He also took my car for new tires and alignment. I'm lucky to have him!

-On Tuesday we took my brother Colton out to do some Christmas shopping. I felt bad because I promised to do it the day before, but my car took longer than expected so I kept having to call every two hours and delay, and then finally cancel for that day. So we promised to take him to lunch if we could delay another day. After shopping, we asked him where he wanted to eat and we happened to be driving by McDonald's. He said he didn't want to eat there because it was unhealthy. Well, there aren't very many healthy fast food places. But there was a Peter Piper Pizza behind McDonald's that had an all-you-can-eat buffet for $4.50 so we asked him if that would work. Again, he was skeptical because pepperoni is unhealthy too. With all that fuss about eating healthy, we were surprised that he totally skipped the salad bar that came with the buffet and ate 11 (eleven!) pieces of pizza. I was impressed because I think Nate has 100 lbs on him, and Nate could "only" eat 12 pieces. Deacon fell asleep as we arrived so we let him stretch out on a booth bench. It was so loud there with all the kids, but he didn't even flinch.

-Wednesday was Christmas Eve so we headed over to my sister's house (The Wright Place) for dinner. We were excited to see my sister Monica and her family, since we weren't expecting them until tomorrow. There were LOTS of little cousins in cute pajamas running around. It wasn't planned but almost all of them were in stripes! We also had a fun White Elephant gift exchange. One of my favorites was the soft, furry 'pimp' coat that Paige picked up from the Salvation Army and Chanda ended up opening. It was even funnier when it got stolen.....by my brother Rocky.

My brother Weston picked his White Elephant gift (keep in mind he is 17) and showed everyone the items that were in there. He puts them back in the bag and is sliding it under his chair when my sister Monica goes, "Are you sure that's all that is in there?" So Brenna grabs the present and rifles through it again. She sees something at the bottom and tries to hide it. She then demands to know who brought this present. She was like an interrogator! She says again, "Who brought this? This is a FAMILY party!" It didn't take long to find the culprit was Jim (Monica's husband) and that he had given a box of prophylactics. He had been really sweating that whole time because he thought the gift exchange would be with all the grown siblings. But it turns out all the little kids were "helping" to open the presents. Also, we had a family from Connecticut with us as a guest and they have young children as well. So he was really regretting the present and was relieved when Weston missed it the first time----good thing Monica pointed it out so it was lost in the shuffle! Luckily, my dad "stole" it from Weston later in the game.

-Thursday (Christmas Morning) we headed over to the Hunt House bright and early for breakfast. A new set of cousins to play with and a new set of toys. And Deacon loved being outside most of the time we were in AZ because it's been too cold to go out up here. Lots of extended family came over for lunch and we took lots of family pictures.





We did a White Elephant exchange on the Hunt side that was funny as well. Some of the lovely items up for winning:

Rechargeable Batteries

Lovely lotions and potions from BBW

Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Or a used toaster oven!

Some January Stuff...

Nathan and I set a New Year's Resolution to plan a weekly menu for dinner. We've had this goal before, but it usually only lasts a week. So far we've done it 3 weeks in a row. We scour the grocery ads and try to plan around what's on sale. My other resolution is the same as last year: to read the Ensign cover to cover each month and to read a book each month. Last year I only missed the month of September (for reading a book that is. I won't comment on the Ensign Ü).

2008 Reading List

January: Orbit by John Nance
February: Twighlight, New Moon, and Eclipse all by Stephenie Meyer
March: The Innocent Man and The Broker, both by John Grisham
April: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Post Secret by Frank Warren, Playing for Pizza by John Grisham, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
May: Atonement by Ian McEwan, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, The Appeal by John Grisham
June: A Girl Name Zippy by Haven Kimmel, Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
July: Good Grief by Lolly Winston, The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
August: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libby Bray, Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
November: By The Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie
December: The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
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The lady I partner with in Young Womens had her baby on December 30th, so I've been planning our class activities on Tuesdays. One week we filled out "getting to know you" forms and talked about them. That should have been our only activity for the night because girls love to talk about themselves Ü. We also played a funny game later involving rolling dice and trying to open a pack for gum with a knife and fork while wearing oven mits.




The next week I set up a little restaurant in one of the classrooms and dressed up like a server (I even had my old Sonic apron Ü). I made special menus that had to do with service and we worked to pass off some Personal Progress goals. I did end up serving them treats to eat and drink, and boy am I glad I don't have to waitress in real life while being pregnant. Ha,ha, since the night was about service, I decided to give them an opportunity right off the bat and asked for a volunteer to babysit for us that week so we could go to the temple for our anniversary.

Speaking of anniversary.....we did nothing. Ha,ha. I did get Nathan a card, but then I forgot to give it to him. So I'll probably use it for Valentine's Day. The same thing happened at Christmas. We didn't get anything for each other. Well, technically he bought a new pair of shoes around Thanksgiving (for a whopping $8), so we called that his Christmas gift. And I was needing a bathrobe (for Deacon's sake Ü), so that was my present. Ha, ha. I promise we don't need counseling. We're just not good at spending money.

We've changed our moving date from December 2009, to September, to July, to April, and now back to July. I got a *little* too excited & started posting furniture items to for sale online. I wasn't ready for anything to sell so fast, and now my piano is gone :(

12/27-12/31

I'm still trying to compile our events leading up to Christmas, so for now I'm skipping to the days after. On Saturday we went to Lazer Quest. It was so much fun. Since I couldn't huff it around all the structures, I mostly stayed in one corner. Nathan joined me and we were our own special ops force against anyone that came near us. I enjoyed all the interesting "code names" everyone made up Ü. I thought we chose some original names for ourselves. Nathan chose "N8" and I was "ILUVN8".Cousin Lindsey, Matt, Ashley, Aubrey, Callie, Nate, Nick (in front)

Special Agent 'N8'

Special Agent 'iluvn8'

A copy of our scorecard. The only reason Nate beat me was because he kept shooting me in the back (literally) after we joined forces Ü

On Sunday, we went to Waffle House with Carrie & Nick and Matt & Ashley. We justified that since it was after midnight, it was technically Monday so we weren't breaking the Sabbath Ü. It was kind of weird to just pick up and go with no planning and to be able to leave Deacon sleeping at Gma/Gpas house.

Matt and Ashley at Waffle House (pic stolen off their blog:)

On Monday we went to the "zoo" (one of Gma Jo's cousins who lives down the street and has a lot of animals). Cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, three different dogs, peacocks, and more. Deacon could not get enough of the chickens and he kept chasing them, tripping on all the holes, and falling to the ground. I tried not to think of all the chicken poo he was landing in.
No pictures, but on Tuesday (I think) Nathan and I went to get mani-pedis at Wal*Mart Ü. He hasn't had either and I've never had a pedicure, so it was fun. I was actually impressed with the nice set up. Super fancy leather massage chairs with basins to do the pedicure. The girl that was doing Nathan's feet lifted his foot up, looked at it, put it back down.....and then went to put gloves on before proceding Ü. I laughed out loud because now he knows why I don't like playing footsies in bed at night. After our pedicures though, our feet we sooooo soft and there was some foot action that night. Grandma Jo watched Deacon while we were getting this done, and then we went to see Valkrye at the movie theatre. Even though I don't like Tom Cruise, we both liked the movie. Lots of retired folks at the theatre in the middle of the day! Ü

On Wednesday (New Years Eve) we drove to Las Vegas. We went out to eat at Famous Dave's with Matt and Ashley and then they showed us a really fun time on The Strip (is that supposed to be capitalized?). I didn't realize they shut down the whole road and you can walk down the middle of the street! I think we have been living in Utah for too long because I was totally blown away by everything I saw!!! There was a girl walking around with no pants on! Ashley and I were going to ask her if she forgot something, but then we saw another girl in a similar outfit. I guess it's the style to wear a shirt with some fishnet stockings and pretend it's a dress Ü. Pretty much everyone was carrying around a pitcher of alcohol. Twice there were people that stopped right in front of us to puke. Luckily we weren't splashed on. We gathered in the street outside the Paris Hotel to watch this guy on a motorcycle jump the replica of the Arc de Triomphe. While we were watching, this drunk guy was going around offering everyone a sip of his drink. To our surprise, a lot of complete strangers were accepting and all drinking from the same cup! When he got to us, all four of us said no. He kept pressing us and asking why. I pointed to my belly and told him it was because I was pregnant. I said, "Don't you remember? It's your baby after all!" I then told him I needed some money for child support. He got this confused look on his face like he was trying to remember me. Later we watched the water and lights show at the Bellagio.....and witnessed a guy peeing into the water. In front of everyone, without a care in the world! I can't be too hard on him though. Being pregnant I can't hold it very long either. I drank too much water with dinner and since it was going to be a long walk before we found restrooms, I went in the parking garage as soon as we parked (a la Seinfeld). I was in such a hurry to make sure I didn't get caught, that I forgot to reach back and grab my camera from the car. So I have NO pictures of this lovely night : (

We ended up leaving early (the pregnant lady in our group could only walk so many miles) so we missed the fireworks. I couldn't believe how many parents were hauling small children around! I don't know...just the environment and being so late at night....I thought it was crazy. We were very glad that Matt's sister Becca watched Deacon for us! Thanks!

Since I didn't take any pictures, is it weird if I instead post some pictures from the last time we went down the strip with Matt and Ashley....a couple days before New Years 2004? Time flies!

Anniversary

Today is our sixth anniversary. We're gonna go crazy tonight with some Martinellis (Thanks mom!). We googled the "traditional" gift for the sixth anniversary and it is candy or iron (Huh?). Anyway, I found this video about what NOT to give for an anniversary and the whole thing is HiLAriOus!